Report of Sub- Group - I on Forestry Executive Summary...India’s forests are facing severe biotic...
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1 Report of Sub- Group - I on Forestry (Constituted by the Planning Commission of India on 25/07/11) Executive Summary: Conservation & development of forest resources including wildlife, which constitutes 23% of the country’s geographical area, has assumed greater significance in the recent past due to recognition of carbon sequestration potential of the forests, ecological security it provides, implications of biodiversity conservation besides its traditional importance through supply of timber, fuel-wood, fodder and range of NTFPs and also livelihood security to the people. However, contributions of forestry and wildlife sector to the GDP of the country continue to be underestimated as GDP calculations recognizes the contribution of tangible products provided by the forests and the ecological services provided by the forests are not considered in the calculations. Though, the Planning Commission in the XIth Plan Mid Term Evaluation has recommended increasing the allocation to atleast 5% of annual, state and central sector outlay to the forestry sector preferably by 12 th Plan, the allocation for Forest and wildlife sector was only 0.4% to 0.5% of overall 11 th FYP allocation despite the recognition by the planners of the importance of the forestry sector in our agrarian economy, and in growing scenario of urbanization and industrialization in the country. With 17% of the world population and 18% livestock over 2.4 % of world total geographical area, India’s forests are facing severe biotic pressures, which have resulted into deterioration in the quality of forest cover and in the productivity of the forest areas in the country. Review of the afforestation programmes of the country suggests that there is decline in the afforestation targets of even flagship scheme -National Afforestation Programme of the central government due to declining allocation to the forestry and wildlife sector. To meet the dynamic challenges the forestry and wildlife sector is facing and the need to ensure ecological security of the country and the livelihood needs of the people, strategies have been outlined in the report. To take care of changing paradigm and developing needs of the forest and wildlife conservation and meeting the democratic aspirations and livelihood needs of the people, the strategies and recommendations include augmentation of flow of financial resources, involvement of JFMCs and other local level institutions of Gram Sabha in participatory management of forests, emphasis on urban forestry and agro-forestry, afforestation of under-utilized lands, enhanced linkage with allied sector, forest conservation and management issues, capacity building of JFM Committees and forest officials, appropriate regulatory regime including liberalized provisions for transport of timber and NTFPs, forest certification issues in sustainable forest management, enhancing forestry research and appropriate M & E regime involving technology and social audits. Five major schemes with an overall outlay of Rs. 42000 crores have been recommended to take care of afforestation, sustainable livelihoods, capacity building of JFMCs/ Gram Sabha and other stakeholders, Green India Mission, Community foresters from among tribal youths/ people residing in forests, monitoring and evaluation. The implementation of the forestry sector schemes recommended in the report would result in increase in Forest and Tree Cover (FTC) by about 3.5 million ha and improvement in quality of forests over another 3.5 million ha. This will take India’s forest & tree cover to around 82 million ha, which will be about 25% of geographical area of the country. Improvement in quality and area of FTC would enhance range of ecological benefits like carbon sequestration, higher ground water table, improved agriculture productivity and increased livelihood of the people as a result of these interventions.
Transcript of Report of Sub- Group - I on Forestry Executive Summary...India’s forests are facing severe biotic...
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Report of Sub- Group - I on Forestry (Constituted by the Planning Commission of India on 25/07/11)
Executive Summary:
Conservation & development of forest resources including wildlife, which constitutes 23% of the country’s geographical area, has assumed greater significance in the recent past due to recognition of carbon sequestration potential of the forests, ecological security it provides, implications of biodiversity conservation besides its traditional importance through supply of timber, fuel-wood, fodder and range of NTFPs and also livelihood security to the people. However, contributions of forestry and wildlife sector to the GDP of the country continue to be underestimated as GDP calculations recognizes the contribution of tangible products provided by the forests and the ecological services provided by the forests are not considered in the calculations. Though, the Planning Commission in the XIth Plan Mid Term Evaluation has recommended increasing the allocation to atleast 5% of annual, state and central sector outlay to the forestry sector preferably by 12th Plan, the allocation for Forest and wildlife sector was only 0.4% to 0.5% of overall 11th FYP allocation despite the recognition by the planners of the importance of the forestry sector in our agrarian economy, and in growing scenario of urbanization and industrialization in the country.
With 17% of the world population and 18% livestock over 2.4 % of world total geographical area, India’s forests are facing severe biotic pressures, which have resulted into deterioration in the quality of forest cover and in the productivity of the forest areas in the country. Review of the afforestation programmes of the country suggests that there is decline in the afforestation targets of even flagship scheme -National Afforestation Programme of the central government due to declining allocation to the forestry and wildlife sector.
To meet the dynamic challenges the forestry and wildlife sector is facing and the need to ensure ecological security of the country and the livelihood needs of the people, strategies have been outlined in the report. To take care of changing paradigm and developing needs of the forest and wildlife conservation and meeting the democratic aspirations and livelihood needs of the people, the strategies and recommendations include augmentation of flow of financial resources, involvement of JFMCs and other local level institutions of Gram Sabha in participatory management of forests, emphasis on urban forestry and agro-forestry, afforestation of under-utilized lands, enhanced linkage with allied sector, forest conservation and management issues, capacity building of JFM Committees and forest officials, appropriate regulatory regime including liberalized provisions for transport of timber and NTFPs, forest certification issues in sustainable forest management, enhancing forestry research and appropriate M & E regime involving technology and social audits.
Five major schemes with an overall outlay of Rs. 42000 crores have been recommended to take care of afforestation, sustainable livelihoods, capacity building of JFMCs/ Gram Sabha and other stakeholders, Green India Mission, Community foresters from among tribal youths/ people residing in forests, monitoring and evaluation. The implementation of the forestry sector schemes recommended in the report would result in increase in Forest and Tree Cover (FTC) by about 3.5 million ha and improvement in quality of forests over another 3.5 million ha. This will take India’s forest & tree cover to around 82 million ha, which will be about 25% of geographical area of the country. Improvement in quality and area of FTC would enhance range of ecological benefits like carbon sequestration, higher ground water table, improved agriculture productivity and increased livelihood of the people as a result of these interventions.
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1. Background:
1.1 India, with a wide range of climate, geography & culture, is unique among biodiversity- rich
nations. The panorama of Indian Forests ranges from evergreen tropical rain forests in Andaman
& Nicobar Islands, the Western Ghats and north- eastern states to dry alpine areas in Himalayas
in the north and between these two extremes, the country has semi-evergreen, deciduous,
subtropical and thorn forests.
1.2 The integrated management of natural resources has assumed great significance in the light of
emerging challenges in the field of climate change, ecological security, biodiversity conservation
and livelihood issues especially the food and water security of the country. The sound and
efficient management of the natural resources is essential for a healthy environment. The mandate
of the Ministry of Environment & Forests is to ensure conservation of forests for land and water
development in the country, which are keys to meet the demands of rising population especially
for the poverty reduction apart from providing a pollution free environment. Therefore, for sound
management of the natural resources, it is essential to accord sufficient importance to the
conservation & development of forest resources including wildlife, which constitutes 23% of the
country’s geographical area.
1.3 There is gross underestimation of the contribution of Forestry sector in the GDP of the
country because prevailing GDP calculation does not appropriately capture the contribution of
forests in national economy. Contribution of forests to the economy is traditionally recognized
through tangible products of calculated value like timber and other forest products but a range of
India - A Mega Diverse Country • India accounts for 7-8% of recorded plant & animal species of the world. • India has four global biodiversity hotspots - Eastern Himalayas, North East region,
Sunderbans and Western Ghat. • Out of India’s land area of 328.7 million hectare, 76.95 million hectare (23.41%) is recorded
forest area. Total Forest and Tree cover of the country is 78.37 million hectare which is 23.84 percent of geographical area of the country (SFR, 2009).
• Total numbers of Protected Areas (PAs) in India is 661 consisting of 100 National Parks, 514 Wildlife Sanctuaries, 43 Conservation Reserve, 4 Community Reserves, encompassing 4.8% of the total geographic area of the country.
• 15 biodiversity rich areas of the country covering an area of approximately 74000 sq kms have been designated as Bio-sphere reserve and four Biosphere reserve viz Nilgiri, Nandadevi, Sundarbans & Gulf of Mannar have been recognize by UNESCO under world network of Biospheres.
• Presently 25 Indian Wetlands have been designated as Ramsar sites in the country and six new sites are under consideration.
• Carbon stocks in our forests stood at 6662 m MT in the year 2005. • Nearly 27% of the total population of the country, comprising about 275 million rural
people, depend on forests for its livelihood.
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non-priced as well as highly subsidized products such as fuel-wood, fodder and a range of Non-
timber Forest Products (NTFPs) including medicinal plants that are exchanged in an informal
manner are not measured.
The limited market exchange of forest products results in gross undervaluation of the
contribution of the forests, which has led to in-adequate allocation of funds to the forestry
sector. The economic development also results in to depletion of natural resources,
deforestation, and pollution but such negative effects are left out in current system of GDP
calculation. The present system of GDP estimation may be good at measuring the size of the
economy but it’s a poor measure of social welfare and sustainable development as well as of
environmental services and ecological security of the nation.
1.4 Ecological Services of forests like regulation of hydrological cycle, soil & water conservation,
flood control, carbon sequestration, fresh air generation, climate stabilization, bio-diversity
conservation and amelioration of overall environment, urban and semi-urban amenity, eco-
tourism etc. are being increasingly recognized and planners have started thinking in the direction
of developing green budgeting of the economy in the country. Apex Court has interpreted that
Fundamental Right to Life is not mere survival right but also include right to good
environment, and forests ensure this uninterruptedly. National Environmental Policy (2006)
has set out concrete recommendations to develop such system as following:
• Strengthen the initiatives taken by the Central Statistical Organisation in the area of natural
resource accounting
• Develop and promote standardized environmental accounting practices and norms in the
preparation of statutory financial statements for large industrial enterprises, in order to
encourage greater environmental responsibility in investment decision making, management
practices, and public scrutiny.
• Facilitate the integration of environmental values into cost-benefit analysis, to encourage
more efficient allocation of resources when making public investment decisions
1.5 Forest Survey of India is working in tandem with Survey of India (SoI) for the purpose of forest
and tree cover mapping. At present Survey of India (SoI) reference maps are available in the
scale of 1:50000 for whole country and for few areas in the scale of 1:15000. Forest Survey of
India assesses forest cover in India on biennial basis on a 1: 50000 scale. Though there is need
to go for mapping in the scale of 1:15000 / 1:4000 and for annual cycle of assessment of forest
cover in place of present biennial system of reporting in the country, it will be possible only
when all SoI reference maps and geo-referenced revenue maps are available at these scales
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besides enhancing the infrastructure, manpower and budgetary support to FSI by atleast 5-6
times of present level. However, in urban areas, forest and tree cover mapping on a scale of
1:4000 may be possible with the availability of enhanced human and financial resources to FSI.
1.6 With the existing manpower and infrastructure, FSI has been able to mainly assess the forest
cover on biennial basis. The change in the type of forest cover in India from 2001 to 2007 (State
of Forests Reports by the Forest Survey of India) can be seen from the table given below:
*Very Dense Forest (VDF) with more than 70% canopy density, Moderately Dense Forests
(MDF) with canopy density between 40% and 70%, Open Forests (OF) with canopy density
between 10% and 40%. Scrub areas (below 10% canopy density) are excluded from mapping of
the forest cover.
With the existing level of technology, it is possible to improve the scale of mapping as
indicated above, periodicity of reporting assessment of forest cover besides other parameters
such as inventory of bio-diversity and NTFP, as and when sufficient manpower, infrastructure,
budgetary support are available in the 12th five year plan.
1.7 Though the above data shows an apparent increase in the forest cover, an in-depth analysis
reveals that such increase has been attributed mostly due to plantations, limited harvesting of
timber, protection and management accorded by forest department as well as Vana
Samrakhshana Samities or Village Forest Protection Committees (VSSs or VFPCs). However,
the quality of forest cover and the productivity from the forest areas have generally declined,
owing mostly to biotic pressure like grazing, human interference, habitat fragmentation, forest
fires etc.
Forest Cover Change in India from 2001 to 2007 (area in Sq Km)
Year VDF* MDF* OF* Total Forest
Cover
Forest Cover %
2001 51,285 3,39,279 2,87,769 6,78,333 20.64
2003 54,518 3.34,056 2,89,242 6,77,816 20.62
2005 83,472 3,19,948 2,86,751 6,90,171 21.00
2007 83,510 3,19,012 2,88,377 6,90,899 21.02 (In addition,
Tree cover is 2.82%)
Total Geographical Area of India in Sq. KM 32,87,263
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1.8 To overcome the problems faced by forests, National Forest Commission has recommended
allocation of 2.5% of national budget to the forestry sector. The Planning Commission in the
XIth Plan Mid Term Evaluation also recommended increasing the allocation of atleast 5%
of annual, state and central sector outlay to the forestry sector preferably by 12th Plan.
However, the allocation for the environment, forests & wildlife has remained below 1% of
which Forest and wildlife sector received only 0.4% to 0.5% of overall 11th FYP allocation.
The following table indicates the allocation/ expenditure of financial resources in the 11th five
year plan under various schemes/ programmes.
S. No.
Name of Scheme
Approved Outlay of XI Plan
2007-08 (Actual Exp.)
2008-09 (Actual Exp.)
2009-10 (Actual Exp.)
2010-11 (Actual Exp.)
2011-12 (BE)
Total Allocation
1. Grants to Institutions
450 85 118 142 139 122 606
2. Capacity Building
110 10 11 22 52 84 179
3. Gregarious Flowering of Bamboo
37 21 15 - - - 36
4. Intensification of Forest Management
600 68 75 69 58 65 335
5. Strengthening of Forest divisions
100 11 21 20 16 18 86
6. Strengthening of Wildlife Division
150 22 22 23 29 29 124
7. Integrated Development of WL Habitats
800 64 79 73 74 70 360
8. Project Tiger 615 65 158 204 193 163 783 9. Project Elephant 82 17 21 21 22 22 103 10. NAP 2000 393 345 318 310 303 1669 11. Animal Welfare 120 21 25 24 24 24 118
Total Forest & WL
6214 805 916 951 961 927 4560
Total Environment & Forests
10000 1350 1483 1631 2180 2300 8941
Thus, the plan funds for the development of forest resources are inadequate to ensure the
integrated management of the land and water resources in the country in a sustainable manner.
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2 Review of Forestry Programs: Regional, National and International dynamics and concerns:
2.1 Funds for the forestry sector flows through Central budget, State budget and through externally
aided projects. Central sector scheme for afforestation are National Afforestation Program (About
Rs. 310 Crore/year), Integrated Forest Management scheme (for forest infrastructure, boundary
demarcation, forest fire management -about Rs. 70 crore/ year), Thirteenth Finance Commission
Grant provided by Ministry of Finance (25% for forest development/ forest infrastructure and 75%
for other development purposes - Rs. 625 crore for each of the first two years and Rs. 1125 crores
for each of the rest three years, totaling Rs. 5000 crores for five years starting from 2010-11),
CAMPA fund (Rs. 1000 -1500 crore per year for mandatory compensatory afforestation in lieu of
diverted forest area for non-forestry purpose, catchment area treatment, strengthening the
protection and management of forests, infrastructure development and maintenance of older
plantation etc.), Integrated development of Wildlife Habitat (Rs. 75 crores per year) and 11 state
sector externally aided projects under which approximately Rs. 500-600 crores per year loan
taken by state governments flow for specified activities in accordance to the Project document of
the state governments. Besides these programmes, State Forest Departments operate many state
schemes for restoration of degraded forests and management of wildlife by taking mult-sectoral
and multi-stakeholder approach.
2.2 National Mission for a Green India (GIM) has been approved by the Prime Minister’s Council on
Climate Change for Rs 46000 crore over 10 years coinciding with 12th and 13th FY Plan. Rs 200
crores have been allocated for the preparatory activities in the year 2011-12. The Green India
Mission as it is known, aims at both increasing the forest and tree cover by 5 million ha, as well as
increasing the quality of existing forest cover in another 5 million ha. The Mission proposes a
holistic view of greening and focuses not only on carbon sequestration targets alone, but, on
multiple ecosystem services, especially, biodiversity, water, biomass etc, along with carbon
sequestration as a co-benefit. While convergence is desirable, and GIM also envisages the same, a
program of this dimension should have budget support to the extent of atleast 70% so that it can
attract funds for convergence with other scheme. This additionality would be required to address
the need to increase the forest and tree cover and its outcome to a large extent.
2.3 National Afforestation and Eco-development Board implements the National Afforestation
Program (NAP), a major afforestation drive of the Ministry through the state forest departments in
the country. During the XI th Plan, the allocation of funds to the National Afforestation
Programme (NAP) is Rs. 393 cr, Rs. 346 cr., Rs. 318 cr., Rs. 310 cr and Rs. 303 cr for the years
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2007-08, 08-09, 09-10, 10-11, and 2011-12 respectively. The targets of planting were accordingly
set as 4.93 lakh ha (including that of 2005-06 carried over to 2007-08, first year of eleventh plan),
1.73 lakh ha, 1.03 lakh ha, 0.59 lakh ha and 0.50 lakh ha. The allotment of grants for the NAP
since beginning of the program is shown in the figures below-
National Afforestattion Program (NAP) is implemented through decentralized structure of
Forest development Agency (FDA) and JFM Committees. From the year 2010-11, State Forest
Development Agency (SFDA) has been constituted at the State level to smoothen the fund flow
from the Ministry to the FDAs. This decentralized three-tier institutional structure (SFDA, FDA
0.71
4.04
2.82
1.06
0.54
0.00
4.93
1.73
1.030.57
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.0020
00-
02
2002
-03
2003
-04
2004
-05
2005
-06
2006
-07
2007
-08
2008
-09
2009
-10
2010
-11Year
National Afforestation Programme (NAP) Plantation Area in Lakh Hectares.
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and JFMC) allows greater participation of the community, both in planning and implementation,
to improve forests and livelihoods of the people living in and around forest areas. JFM approach
of "Care & Share" draws its strength from National Forest Policy 1988 and subsequent guidelines
of MoEF in 1990, 2000 and 2002, which lay emphasis on the involvement of local communities in
protection, afforestation and sharing of benefits with the communities, making their gradual
empowerment possible. While JFM committees in the existing system are constituted from the
Gram Sabha members for management of forest resources, an emphasis on making them as
permanent technical committees under the guidance and supervision of Gram Sabha during 12th
five year plan period.
2.4 The Forestry sector recognizes its increasing role to provide sustained benefits to the people and
strives to attain it by integrating new frontiers of knowledge & science in planning, management,
research & capacity building with forest management. The professionals, who manage the forest
resources, are being regularly provided with the cutting edge knowledge, technology and skills to
deal with new challenges. Indira Gandhi National Forest Academy (IGNFA), Dehradun, FRI
Deemed University, Dehradun, Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Indian Institute of Forest
Management (IIFM) Bhopal, Indian Council & Forestry Research & Education (ICFRE), State
Forest Training School and state forest institutions are making extensive efforts to fulfill the
knowledge gap. Presently, one-two years long induction training, refresher courses through week
long training on yearly basis and Mid-career trainings are arranged for senior forest officers and
frontline staff. The state training institutions are being upgraded to provide frontline staff trainings
on regular basis for updating their knowledge to take care of developing needs. However, training
of members of JFM committees and other local level institutions in forestry and allied activities
need to be stepped up.
2.5 While China has kept a target of increase in the forest cover by 12.5 million hectares between
2011-2015 against the increase of 40 million hectare forest cover between 2005-2020, India’s
target are rather modest much below the country’s requirement so far unless issues of making
available matching financial resources is addressed convincingly. With the drivers of degradation
like forest fires, cattle grazing etc. and excessive drawl in form of fire-wood, timber etc. in the
forest area, the increase in net forest cover for a Five Year plan period in India presently will
be less than 1.0% and perhaps negligible. The increase in in forest cover would generally be
restricted to non-forest area where there is scope for enhancing tree cover. Hence, there is
urgent need to step up afforestation drives by matching availability of funds to achieve
ambitious afforestation targets.
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3. Gap Analysis of Programmes of Forestry Sector: 3.1 The Forest policy of 1988, while reiterating the “Directive Principles of State Policy” mandated
the forest cover to one-third and two-third in the country and the hilly region respectively. This
was further reinforced by the National Development Council by stipulating monitorable target for
the forest cover at 25% and 33 % by the end of 10th and 11th plan respectively. This required
large plan allocation to forestry sector, which did not happen in 10th/11th Five Year plan
rather funding to forestry & wildlife sector has come down to 0.4% - 0.5% of overall size of
11th Plan. This has affected the afforestation drive aimed to achieve the targeted growth in forest
cover.
3.2 The review of afforestation Programme in the previous section indicate that fund availability to
the major afforestation program (National Afforestation Programme) of the Central
Government has not only been stagnating but diminishing in the XIth Plan inspite of
increasing costs of inputs, which gets reflected in the decreasing annual targets set for
afforestation. This has resulted in the loss of focus on restoration of degraded forest lands, which
has been further aggravated by increasing vacancies at the level of forest field staff affecting
implementation of the afforestation and wildlife management program. In many of the states,
funding from central government and externally aided projects remained the main plan
resources for afforestation.
3.3 It is sometimes argued that some financial resources have also been made available for
afforestation through Finance Commission grants and CAMPA funds. While the CAMPA funds
are available for making the loss of forest cover due to forest lands already diverted by way of
undertaking compensatory afforestation, it is a general tendency of the states that increase in
central sector funds for forestry sector invariably led to reduction of state funding to the
forestry, rather than treating central funding as an additional resource.
3.4 The average rate of planting is of the order of 0.15-0.20 million ha per annum under the National
Afforestation Programme and State/ Forest Development Corporation add another 0.2 - 0.3 million
ha. to the block planting. Thus, the annual planting in block form is 0.4-0.5 million ha. However,
annual achievement of afforestation/ planting reported under Twenty Point Programme (TPP) data
is about 1 – 1.2 million hectare per year, which is not solely block plantations done by forest
departments but also consist of Roadside plantations, Railway line/ canal side plantations and
other public land plantations by other agencies. These reported figures under TPP however do not
inspire confidence due to inadequate monitoring mechanism by other agencies.
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3.5 Considering that all trees in the plantations do not survive, some plantations are raised in
degraded forests to improve the stocking and degrading factors still continue to operate in forests,
the extent of increase of Forest & Tree cover (FTC) will be proportionately less. In this context, it
is better to take into account the increase of 0.5% FTC in 2005-07 period. Taking the outcome
of increase in FTC during 2005-07 period, the annual plantation rate has to be increased
ten-fold to achieve 5% increase in FTC and this increase in FTC will be seen only after 6-7
years if these afforestation/ plantation efforts are sustained. Thus, plantation created in 11th
plan period would be captured by satellite for the purpose of FTC assessment by FSI, Dehradun
in 12th plan period.
3.6 As far as the pressure on the forests is concerned, MoEF report on “Forest Cover in India” has
indicated that.
i. Unsustainable withdrawals of fuel wood, timber and fodder from forest areas is causing
degradation of forests in India as gap in Demand & Supply of fuel wood alone is about 86
million tonnes.
ii. 1.2 million ha of forest areas are subjected to shifting cultivation.
iii. Annual diversion of forests under FCA 1980 is about 25000 ha per annum.
iv. Honey-combing of forests due to encroachments and recognition of forest dwellers’ rights on
the principle of ‘As is where is basis’.
3.7 The planting in degraded or open forests would not translate into any net increase of forest cover
but improve the density of forest cover. It is unlikely that any substantial extent of vacant land
would be available to raise new forests and it will require extensive efforts by the states. So, the
realistic measure would be to increase tree cover outside forests, which could translate into new
FTC and simultaneously steps are taken to improve density of degraded & other forest areas by
management interventions. Since plantations during 11th plan are not substantial, FTC may show
nil or marginal increase during 12th plan. With the current rate of withdrawal of forest
resource and current level investment, it may not be surprising that FTC growth may
become negative very soon.
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4. Key Challenges to the Forestry Sector in India:
4.1 With 17% of world population and 18% livestock over 2.4 % of world total geographical area, India’s forests are facing severe biotic pressure. Key challenges are-
• The forests are meeting 40% of domestic fuel-wood needs of the people and 30 % of the fodder needs of the cattle in our country.
• The demand and supply gap of timber, fuel-wood and fodder is widening in the country.
• Shifting cultivation practiced over 1.2 million ha, though associated with socio-cultural, legal
and bio-physical characteristics, is also cause of degradation of forests predominately in
Eastern and North-Eastern India.
• Honeycombing of forests caused by encroachments and its regularization and allotments
under FRA.
• Low per-capita forest area of 0.06 hectare as against the world average of 0.64 ha.
• Allocation for the forests & wildlife sector is only 0.4% to 0.5% of the total plan outlay of the country. This coupled with late release of funds for afforestation compounds the problem.
• Slow implementation of Bio-diversity Act, 2002.
4.2 Left wing extremist groups and their variants in States of Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Uttar
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh are concentrated in large tracts of
natural forests due to their isolated locations, lower allocation of financial and human resources
for such forested areas, and slow implementation of government developmental schemes due to
poor law and order conditions in these areas. Forest economies and tribal communities need
greater protection and promotion to control extremist groups and poverty in the forest areas
of the country.
4.3 Forest is foster mother of Agriculture and agriculture productivity cannot be enhanced
without conserving and developing forests. Hence, continued degradation of forests will not
only lead to further desertification and floods but will also affect food and water security needed
for livelihood security of the people of the country. In order to maintain good agricultural growth,
higher investment in forestry sector is important as forests will regulate the water flows, soil
erosion & sedimentation and overall climate to maintain good agricultural growth and dependent
manufacturing and service sector in the country.
4.4 Alternatives of timber consume more energy and generate more pollution and thus emphasis
should be on more utilization of renewable products form forests like timber, fuel-wood, which are
produced by sequestration of carbon di-oxide from the environment and thus environment
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friendly. Thus, emphasis should be on increasing production and sustainable utilization of
forest resources. This would require higher financial and human resources for this sector.
4.5 In a scenario with heavy biotic pressure on the forests, investment of less than 0.4% to 0.5% of
the 11th five year plan in the one-fourth of the land area recorded as forests and ever
widening demand and supply gap of timber, fuel-wood and fodder, the degradation of
forests is inevitable. This demands an urgent intervention at all levels and requires many
innovative initiatives for restoration and increase in productivity of degraded forests and
management of wildilfe by taking multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach to the forest
management.
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5. Strategies for the Forestry Sector:
The expansion of forest cover to 25% and 33 % by the end of 10th and 11th plan respectively required
large plan allocation to forestry sector, which did not happen in 10th/11th Five Year plan, rather
funding to forestry & wildlife sector has come down to 0.4% -0.5% of the overall size of 11th
Plan. It makes the plan support to Green India Mission and other forestry programmes even
more important and to achieve modest targets in comparison to China under Green India
Mission in Mission mode, a regular flow of fund as a plan scheme in 12th Plan need to be
introduced.
It is in the perspective of the basic objectives of National Forest Policy, 1988 and National
Environmental Policy, 2006 for maintenance of environmental stability through preservation and
restoration of ecological balance; conserving the natural heritage of the country and natural resource
accounting, the sub-group- I recommends following strategies:-
A. Innovative ways for augmenting flow of Financial Resources:
The midterm appraisal of 11th Five Year Plan by Planning Commission states that 5% of
annual, Central, State outlay should be allocated for the environment and forestry sector separately.
Since the allocation had been around 0.4% to the forestry & wildlife sector, it has become necessary
to find ways and means to generate funds for forestry and wildlife sector in the interest of the survival
of the human kind and for the sake of future generation by ensuring ecological security of the
country. Time and again, it has been emphasized to explore innovative funding mechanism to
promote forestry activities in the past five year plans. However, this mechanism has not worked even
in the profitable commercial organisations like Air India, not to talk of Forestry sector, which has a
long gestation period and not remunerative enough. However, following steps may take appropriate
shape during 12th Plan.
1. The ecosystem services of forest like hydrological benefits, soil conservation, flood control,
carbon sequestration, fresh air generation, climate stabilization, biodiversity conservation etc. are
now accepted worldwide. The Forestry sector need to be looked at differently especially for
ecological services rather than tangible outputs and must be compensated for the ecological
services it provides so that higher quantum of funds will be invested in Forestry sector. PES
(Payments for Ecological Services) is an accepted concept the world over. Initially, a fee of
atleast 5% on the value of the services generated from dams/ power generation, Oil/Gas/ Coal
may be stipulated in Forest clearance of projects under Forest (Conservation) act 1980 to
compensate for ecological services of forests. A methodology should be put in place for
transferring the benefits of ecological services from those who derive these benefits to those who
are directly involved in forest conservation including rural and tribal communities.
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2. As the funds for greening are scarce even in developed states including forest deficient states,
there is an urgent need for providing the additional resources to the forest deficient districts /
states on the lines of grants provided to the forest rich states by 13th Finance Commission.
3. There is need for creation of “Green fund” by pooling forest development tax (About 10% of
value) levied on sale of forest products, 5% forest conservation tax levied on the sale of
petroleum products/ coal and similar taxes like Eco-tax in Himachal Pradesh, which may be
utilized for forestry activities.
4. There is need to attract funds from international institutions / bodies/ organisations for carbon
sequestration, REDD+, biodiversity conservation etc. to enhance the domestic investment for
afforestation and to pass it on to local communities for their role in conservation and development
of the forests.
5. Multi-Stakeholder Partnership involving industries (requiring forest based raw material) for
pooling of financial resource, Forest Corporations for implementation and local JFM Committees
for participation in the afforestation of the degraded forest lands in a phased manner holds the key
for optimum utilization of land capability and optimizing its productivity.
6. Big business houses/ corporate houses/ Public Sector Units should provide funds for conservation
and development of forest under their Corporate Social Responsibilities. This has been
supported by the Permanent Parliamentary Committee on E & F and S & T.
B. Participatory Management:
7. Participatory management approach to forest management is vital for livelihood security
and wider support of the people. Since there is delay in fund transfer to the state forest
departments, the State Forest Development Agency (SFDA), Forest Development Agency (FDA)
in the districts and the Joint Forest Management Committees (JFMCs) as Committees of the
Gram Sabha at village level may implement the forestry activities. These agencies may however
require revamping to take care of changing paradigm and developing needs of the forest
management and meeting the democratic aspirations of the people.
8. Forests play a very important role in rural and tribal economy as many of the NTFPs
provide sustenance to three hundred million poor people. The local people should have first
claim on the forest products and local community should be encouraged to promote low key
business/ economic activities on forest based raw material that not only provide jobs, income and
economic base but also are environmentally restorative in nature.
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9. Local level institutions like JFM in various styles and forms in different parts of the country
should be promoted for forest management in the country and JFM Committees should be
formed as standing committees of the Gram Sabha.
C. Urban Forestry:
10. Urban areas especially need attention as pollution levels and radiating heat from the concrete
buildings requires dissipation through vegetative means. In urban areas, local level institutions
such as RWAs, schools, colleges , NGOs/ Vas etc. should be involved in the implementation of
greening activities. A case of Delhi will be good example to provide insight in the process of
greening. Delhi State had been able to increase its forest cover from 1.8 % in 1996 to 20%
now despite scarce availability of land, high cost of land and heavy pressure on open areas.
Other cities like Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad have equally done well in increasing green
cover, which can be replicated by other states, cities and towns. This is very urgent as cities and
towns are expanding fast and all efforts need to be made to preserve existing forests and open
lands as public amenity spaces and to add new spaces within the urban plans, wherever possible.
To protect such open spaces from so-called development lobbies, users’ associations should
be formed to manage them jointly with the custodian (Forest, Horticulture or other departments)
for safeguarding the interests of walkers, joggers and nature lovers.
Urban areas need to be tackled at source in view of low forest cover in general, high levels of
pollution etc. and to improve the quality of the life of people residing in cities and small towns.
Salient Features of Greening Delhi Action Plan
• Increase in Vegetation by - Massive plantation by all Govt. Agencies - Motivating people to plant atleast one tree - Free distribution of seedlings - Involve NGOs, resident welfare associations,
etc. • Enlist people’s participation to make greening a
people’s movement • Mass Awareness Campaign to educate people especially
schools students to increase awareness for greening • Need for coordination with other Greening Agencies • Protection of existing Vegetation by implementation of
Delhi Tree Preservation Act
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D. Afforestation of Under-utilized Lands:
11. There is need to restore degraded forests (open density forests) to its optimum production
potential. Increasing the forest area under multi-purpose productive plantations to about 5- 10 %
of the total forest area in a phased manner and its management through Forest Development
Corporations / Agencies with well-defined targets and appropriate financial resources should be
taken up. This requires huge investments in Forestry sector to create new forest resources in a
phased manner. Industrial Wood products would have to be restricted to the existing areas of
forest development corporations and the existing plantation felling series of the working plans of
territorial forest divisions. This would involve pooling of financial resource by industries
requiring forest based raw material, implementation by output oriented Forest Corporations and
participation of the local JFM Committees. Till it is achieved the fuel, fodder and timber needs
of the rural and urban communities may be met from outside the forests. To restore the
ecological status of forests, which were clear-felled in the past, mixed crops of services to bio-
diversity and local need would be encouraged.
12. There is need to give attention to meet the timber, fuel-wood and fodder demands of the
country. Past working plan practices for meeting the timber, fuel-wood and fodder should be
revived in forest areas that are ecologically suited to take care of these aspects. There is also a
need to research various agro-forestry and mixed models and establish demonstration / pilot
plots.
E. Agro-forestry and Optimizing Productivity:
13. In order the make the plantations more productive and augment the income of farmers engaged
in agro-forestry, there is a need to develop high yielding varieties through tree improvement,
improve nursery techniques and plantation techniques so that forestry plantations cater to the
increasing demand of the people for forestry products in order to divert pressure from natural
forests.
14. Large scale Hi-tech nurseries are to be created for Quality Planting Material required for the
agroforestry activities.
15. Agro-forestry Development Board to guide and supervise the agro-forestry activities in the
country may be constituted to facilitate the under-utilized non-forest lands. This is possible by
incentivizing agro-forestry. Forestry Sector can play a very important role in the development of
this sector.
F. Linkages with Allied Sector:
16. Convergence guidelines of National Afforestation Program (NAP) of MoEF and MG NREGA of
MoRD have been developed but it has been observed that funding through convergence
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mechanism are not regular and timely and rather depends on perception of officer-in charge. To
overcome these difficulties, long term understanding and commitments have to be worked
out by all allied departments to ensure timely and regular funds for afforestation activities.
17. There should be focus on increasing forest cover outside the traditional forest areas as there is
enough scope to increase tree cover outside forest area. The existing tree cover is only about 2.82
% of geographical area and the number of districts having forest cover less than 5% is one-fourth
of the total districts in the country. Afforestation activities have to be focused on non-forest
lands like road side avenue plantations, institutional plantations and planting on village waste
lands etc. and greater thrust on forestry extension, education & others should be given.
18. Ecosystem based/ landscape approach should be used for making intervention in the field.
Selection of the landscapes may be based on a range of criteria, including projected vulnerability
to climate change, areas with significant biodiversity and other ecosystem values, critical
habitats, corridors, and potential of area for carbon sink. Overlays of socio economic criteria like
poverty and ethinicity may further help prioritization of project areas within the candidate
landscapes. This would also require intervention of all allied departments like rural development,
tribal welfare, panchayat raj institutions(PRIs), watershed development departments etc. and
gives an opportunity for better co-ordination and better linkages among them and with other
sectors as well.
19. The developmental programmes in forest rich districts/ Left Wing Extremist affected
districts requires convergence between different programmes of the government and the key
role of co-ordination in these districts should be should be entrusted to the State forest
departments, because it has the larger reach & better presence in the interior most parts of the
districts.
G. Forest Conservation & Management:
20. Forest economies and tribal communities need greater protection and promotion to keep
extremism away and poverty low in the forest areas of the country. The tribal youth may be
involved in afforestation and forest protection by engaging them as community foresters.
21. Forest Fire Vulnerability Map/ Fire Hazard Index should be developed in each state to
prioritize the funds for fire protection. The local communities should be extensively involved in
fire management of the forest fires.
22. Awareness and mass media campaign in respect of forests, wildlife and environment can play
an important role in spreading the message to general public. Knowledge management through
digital library resources and dissemination of knowledge through Van Vigyan Kendras / local
Community Radios/ FM Radios need to be explored. This could also be useful in management
of Forest Fires.
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23. Volunteers should be developed by involving people as Honorary Wildlife Warden, Honorary
Forest officers, who could contribute in awareness on forest and wildlife and provide secret
information on forest and wildlife crimes.
24. Frontline staff has to take up arduous protection duties in the forest and wildlife areas,
sometimes cut off from the main land. They should be motivated by providing pay and ration
on the lines of paramilitary forces/ police.
25. Invasive Alien Species like Lantana is creating menace in certain areas. The efforts are to be
made to control it through uprooting and its further use in boards.
26. Utmost care should be taken to divert the already afforested lands. Role of urban authorities,
PWD and other agencies is important while planning their activities near lands already planted.
H. Capacity building of Forest Officials & JFM Committees:
27. There is vacancy of 20 % at the level of frontline forest staff. As the forest duties are arduous
the forestry posts should be filled on the lines of fresh army recruitment or from able bodied
retired army personnels. At the same time, special efforts need to be made to develop good
communication with the communities and between different levels within the forest departments
and allied departments of the government.
28. Office staff of forest department should be selected and trained on the lines of field staff as in the
police department and interchanged with each other for smooth forestry operations. This will
bring better understanding and quick results in processing of projects in office and field
implementation.
29. Extensive efforts should be made to build the capacity of the frontline staff and JFM
Committee members and those involved in forestry and wildlife sector in new nursery
techniques, plantation technology, monitoring through GIS/MIS, community organizing,
livelihood generation activities etc. so as to fulfill the livelihood needs of the people.
30. Training should be regular activity for all levels rather than induction training only. Each forest
official should be given chance for specializing in one or two fields. There is also need to revise
training curriculum to take care of dynamic needs of forestry and wildlife sector.
I. Regulatory regime:
31. Regulatory regime like liberalized provisions for transport of timber and NTFPs need to be
suitably modified and relaxed to encourage tree planting on degraded lands outside forests.
32. The Joint Forest Management Committees should be formalized and given legal status under
the Indian Forest Act and the Panchayat / PESA Act. The state implementing agencies should
be strengthened by providing funds for staff/ officials required for implementation of activities.
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33. Bio-diversity of the country should be protected from bio-piracy. Similarly, incomes from
IPRs should be shared with the communities for better protection and management of bio-
resources especially medicinal plants.
34. There is need to modernize and adequately equip the Forest Department to control the increasing
efforts of the mafia in illicit felling of trees and poaching of wild-life.
J. Sustainable Forest Management and Forest Certification: 35. Sustainable forest management and certification issues should be built in the forest management
of the country. Forest Certification as voluntary procedure for management practice will pave the
way for the sustainable forest management in the country. National set of criteria and indicators
need to be adapted for practical applications in the state forest departments, which should be
taken up as a capacity building program with the collaboration of premier institutions like Indian
Institute of Management, Bangalore, BIS, NGOs and IIFM, Bhopal. This need to be
supplemented by an overall effort to improve the interactions with the public, by better use of
ICT and transparent processes.
36. The weak links in the supply chain need be identified and efforts be made to overcome the supply
bottlenecks via technological, market creation/strengthening, easier access to information, capital
and credit policies. There is ample scope for value addition especially in medicinal products.
37. The mangroves, coral reefs and wetlands are rich area of biodiversity and need to be
conserved and protected from further degradation through 100% funded Centrally
Sponsored Scheme. Similarly Himalayan forests, glaciers, bio-diversity hotspots, and
ecologically sensitive areas require higher protection because they regulate the regional climate
and are important source of fresh water for agriculture, industry and human consumption. The
importance of sacred groves, endemic species like red sanders also need sufficient recognition
in our conservation plans.
K. Forestry Research
38. R & D support in Forestry sector is rather poor and hence focus to meet short term applied
research and long term requirements of the sector is required. Besides, policy research in
changing paradigm is the necessity of the sector.
39. New focus should be given to multi-storey plantations to utilize the full potential of the forest
lands. The present schedule of rates, species mix, plantation techniques have to be worked out
through field trials.
40. Agro-forestry models for different agro-climatic zones should be developed and compiled by the
ICFRE.
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41. There is need to create forestry seed bank, and revival of seed orchards and identification of
plus trees in all the states for better production forestry activities.
42. There is need for synergy and networking among ICFRE and various state research institutes so
that research and extension related information could be effortlessly shared with the users.
43. Initiatives to develop procedures/ mechanisms in the area of Natural Resource Accounting
should be taken to arrive at good measure of contribution of forests to the GDP.
L. Miscellaneous:
44. To give the impetus to the Forestry sector including wildlife, a separate Department of Forests
and Wildlife may be created in the Ministry and the human resources of the department should
be enhanced to deal with new fields of work.
45. Bio-diversity, Mangroves, wetlands, coral reefs etc. are the natural parts of forests and wildlife
and require convergence with different departments for meaningful outcome.
46. Multiplicity of the land based committees like Bio-diversity Management Committees,
Wetland Committees, Watershed Management Committees has to be removed and a single
committee with various experts needs to be introduced for better co-ordination at the local and
district level.
47. For the sustainable development of FRA areas, map with geo-referenced boundaries should be
developed by Tribal Welfare Department so that options for livelihood including agro-forestry
could be provided to the people and Forest Department could develop plan for sustainable
livelihood options of these areas.
48. There is need to remove annual uncertainties about time and quantum of funds in allocation so
that regular funds flow in time-bound manner.
49. Preparation of Working Plan for scientific management of the forests in the forest divisions is
very important for its sustainability and therefore central assistance for this aspect is necessary.
50. There are large numbers of small rivulets in addition to major rivers in the country. Bio-
engineering models should be applied in watershed areas of these rivulets also to control floods
and draughts in the command areas.
51. The forest department should review their plantation schedule and incorporate the essential need
to take care of adequate cost of tall planting, scarcity of plantation manpower, seasonability of
afforestation work coinciding with agriculture activities, poor output of unskilled persons due to
low wage rate, welfare needs of these people so as to achieve the good afforestation results rather
than emphasizing on qualitative targets.
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6. Recommendations and Proposed Targets: Considering the recommendation of Mid-term Appraisal of Forestry & Wildlife Sector schemes in
XIth Plan by the Planning Commission and the country’s requirements in addressing the sustainable
livelihood issues of forest dependent communities through Bamboo & NTFP based programmes as
well as need to main stream them in country’s development, ensure ecological security by insulating
the country from adverse impact of climate change by way of increasing the carbon sequestration
potential apart from increasing forest cover, need to enhance scale of involvement of village level
institutions besides putting in place a system of technological based monitoring & evaluation,
following allocation is recommended for augmenting afforestation programmes in the 12th Plan
keeping in view the ecological security of the country and livelihood support to the people.
Sl. No.
Proposed Scheme/ Program during 12th Plan
Proposed Demand
(Rs. Crores)
Proposed Physical Targets
1. National Afforestation Programme
13500 2.0 million Ha. Afforestation, Soil & Moisture Conservation including water harvesting structures and Eco-development for people residing in forests. Involvement of 50000 Community Foresters for activities\ programmes \ schemes of forest conservation and management including NTFP’s.
2. Capacity Development of the JFMCs, Gram Sabha and other stakeholders
2500 Capacity building of members of one lakh JFM Committees and Gram Sabha through Master Trainers in each Forest Divisions for management & conservation of forests.
3. Green India Mission 23000 Increased FTC on 2.5 million Ha. and improvement in Quality of Forest Cover over another 2.5 million Ha.
4. Intensification of the Forest Management
2000 Forest Fire Management, Boundary Demarcation, Forest Infrastructure, Control of Invasive Alien Species, Strengthening of Working Plan Mechanism for sustainable livelihood of people and Conservation of Forest Resources
5. Satellite based Forest Resource Assessment and technological based M & E
1000 To put in place a system of technogical based collection of base line data,monitoring & evaluation of forestry schemes & programmes
Total: 42000 Note: Break-up of the above schemes is given in annexures.
2.5 lakh Ha. Bamboo & NTFP Plantation, chain of value addition, Marketing Support etc in overall management of NTFP areas drawn from another sub-group
7. Monitoring and Evaluation:
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7.1. Monitoring and Evaluation is an integral part of any program for assessment of the works
underway and effectiveness of investments made. Continuous monitoring and periodic
evaluation of the selected parameters, performance efficiency and impact of the projects /
programs will have to be undertaken for proper implementation of afforestation program. With
this objective in view, Government of India is undertaking assessment of Forest & Tree Cover
(FTC) on biennial basis for assessment of its afforestation programme and future requirements of
the forestry sector.
7.2. In the 11th Five Year Plan, the target for enhancing the forest and tree cover was 5%. It had two
inherent problems, one that forest cover change in 11th Five Year plan will only be reflective of
new plantations created in the 10th Five Year plan. Secondly the present allocation is sufficient
to develop reforestation on 0.7 to 1 million ha. annually which will transform 5 million ha.
during a Five Year plan which is equivalent to about 1.5 % increase in forest and tree cover.
Thus, a substantial area of plantation in forest area will improve the forest density rather than
increase in forest cover.
7.3 Besides, monitoring of input level activity at the level of Ministry, Forests Departments and other
stakeholders, outcome level parameters should be assessed by technological based M & E
system at the field level by application of modern technology like Remote sensing, GIS
combined with ground truthing. For this purpose, data sets of monitor able parameters have to
decided and documented from time to time for evaluation by project authorities and independent
evaluators. For the reliable system of monitoring, there is a need to define indicators for
scientific / technological parameters in terms of improvement in the forest cover, growing stock,
improvement in ground water levels due to SMC works etc. like-wise socio-economic
parameters like change in composition of agricultural crops, number of crops taken in a year and
income indicators can be another set of indicators to assess improvement in water table regime
etc. This should lead to the put social audit by local level communities and Gram sabha in place.
7.4 Apart from other systems in place, theme based monitoring of the following activities is required
on periodical basis. Some of the parameters for monitoring the outcome of the forestry
programmes are
• Pilot scale monitoring at certain locations for Ground Water Table, ecological services
like carbon sequestration and Sedimentation rate of rivers/ rivulets. • Forest sustainability index.
• Population census of major wildlife species like Tiger, elephant, Rhino etc. could be
another indicator of health of the forests.
• Measurement of bio-diversity index of pilot sites on regular basis.
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• Socio-economic parameters like income levels, HDI, infant mortality, sex ratio, number of BPL families, health status, cropping pattern, etc.
• Theme based annual reporting of parameters like encroachments, forest fires.
7.5 The real-time, web-based monitoring system being developed for CAMPA by National
Informatics Centre (NIC), and FSI should be taken as the starting point for the interventions
during XIIth Plan, and may be extended to other schemes by strengthening the Forest Survey of
India (FSI) and State Remote Sensing / Geomatics Units. Density slicing could be used to gauge
migration within density class.
Remote-sensing-based forest cover monitoring in close collaboration with Forest Survey
of India, National Remote Sensing Agency and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing for
developing a countrywide mosaic of high resolution satellite images (LISS IV, Cartosat) and
overlaying polygons of areas taken up for interventions to help develop a centralized spatial data
base in the GIS domain.
7.6 In order to achieve the adequate level in the monitoring and evaluation system, a dedicated forest
satellite for monitoring forest cover, NTFP resource, bio-diversity on periodical basis etc. and
change monitoring is required.
8. Expected Outcome:
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8.1 The implementation of the forestry sector schemes recommended in previous para would result in
increase in forest and tree cover by about 5 million ha and improvement in quality of forests over
another 4.5 million ha. This will take India’s forest & tree cover to around 83 million ha, which
will be 25% of geographical area of the country. Further, the protection & conservation measures
envisaged will improve the quality of forest cover in terms of density, growing stock, quantum of
carbon sequestered by way of implementation of these schemes. Improvement in quality and area
of FTC would enhance eco- system services like carbon sequestration, hydrological services and
bio-diversity conservation in addition to increase in tangible goods like fuel-wood, fodder, timber
and NTFPs from forests. The implementation of the forestry and wildlife sector schemes would
benefit people living in and around forests especially tribals and forests dwellers through
employment generation & low key economic activities, so vital for respectable sustenance as well
as augmentation of income.
8.2 From the year 1995 to 2005, carbon stock in forests of the country were estimated to increase
from 6245 million tonnes to 6662 million tonnes, registering in annual increment of 37 million
tons of Carbon. With the implementation of proposed forestry sector schemes, annual carbon
sequestration will enhance atleast by about 50 million tonnes at the end of the 12th plan which
will increase with the maturity till it attains mean annual increment & rotation period.
8.3 Forests are also essential for maintaining favourable conditions for sustainable agriculture
productivity and farmers’ income is expected to increase by soil and moisture conservation
works. Forests are also important for maintaining underground water table, for recharging the
aquifers and for maintaining of water in rivers and rivulets. This has been established in various
studies of catchments like Shimla forest catchment for securing water supply to Shimla town and
Borivali National Park forests for maintaining water supply to the part of the Mumbai city.
8.4 Forests also provide a range of tangible benefits like fuelwood, fodder, timber and NTFPs
which are crucial to livelihood security of the local communities. Nearly 27% of total
population of the India comprising about 300 million people depend on forest for livelihood
and implementation of the recommended forestry schemes would augment forest based
livelihood income of the people living in and around forests.
Annexures (Few Success Stories) Success Story of Integrated Development By JFM in Tiria village, Chhattisgarh, India
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Due to ‘care and share’ policy of the Government, JFMC, established in 1998, comprising 368 members (74 families) managed the forest area of 340 ha. Hence the JFMC received its share of Rs.159 lakhs from harvesting of timber coupe, in the last 5 years. These funds were used by JFMC to improve socio-economic status of the village by way of providing solar electric connections, tube wells with overhead tanks for water supply, bio-gas plants to supply piped gas to every household as well as install biodiesel engines for lift irrigation to augment irrigation facilities,etc. These interventions by JFMC had the following benefits:
(1) Reducing dependence on fuelwood tremendously resulting in improvement of density of adjoining forest areas.
(2) Harvesting of two agriculture crops every year due to improved irrigation (3) Enhancement of the income of each family by Rs.15,000 to Rs.20,000 (4) Improvement of education level of villagers due to solar powered electricity (5) Reduction in incidences of water borne diseases due to piped water supply to every
household. While the scientific inputs for scientific and sustainable management of forests are provided by the Forest Department, the local communities help in micro planning process, for regeneration, protection and management of forests, and get the predetermined share from the forest resources managed by them. NTFP MANAGEMENT & LIVELIHOODS Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in India are known to play an important role historically in the social life of forest dependent communities. NTFPs contributes over 68% of total forest export revenue in India. Nearly 300 million people, living in and around forests in India, depend on NTFPs for sustenance and supplemental income. India has shown remarkable progress during the last decade in enhancing contribution of forests poverty alleviation through empowering people with the ownership of NTFP as well as value addition in accordance to the Millennium Declaration in 2000 to
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halve the number of people living in poverty by 2015. A success story leading to enhancement of incomes and poverty reduction through NTFP Management may be seen in Box III. CASE - NTFP DEVELOPMENT & LIVELIHOODS- Case study from Orissa Sanjog, a small NGO at Kantabanji in Balangir district, Orissa state, has promoted many enterprise based rural development activities. It has established formidable non timber forest produce based enterprises with initiatives for regeneration of resources for posterity. It has registered the enterprises in district industries centre (DIC), which helps the benefit of Govt. schemes such as subsidy. These are also registered as cooperatives. LAC Lac insect rearing on a few trees can yield even the landless tribal more than does an acre of paddy farm. This is because each Kusum (Shleichera oleosa) tree earns the owner about Rs. 1,650/- net in just 6 months & with just 3 trees they earn more than net income from 1 acre of paddy farm, which is Rs. 5,000/-. This is because paddy farming cost is about Rs. 5,000/- per acre while lac brood cost per tree is just Rs. 1,200/- at Rs. 80/- per kg for 15 kg of brood. The tree may yield 100 kg of lac sold at Rs. 30/- per kg & Rs. 3,000/- in total, with just 3 sprays for pest control that cost just Rs. 10.- each. The lac is sold at Ranchi, Jharkhand state or Gondia in Maharashtra or Jaipur, Rajasthan where it used in Bangles & Jewelry making. The training is provided by the Indian Lac Research Institute, Ranchi. LEAF PLATES Stitching leaf plates from Siali/ Mahul climber (Bauhinia vahlii) climber leaves earns about 200 tribal women about Rs. 3,600/- yearly (over 8 months) in Mohangiri mountains of Kalahandi-Balangir border. They earned 20% extra today than 2 years ago by collective sales through “Banashree” federation that has bank account & DIC registration. This is also partly due to access to remote & profitable markets of Tirupati temple by Sanjog through Andhra traders, rather than depending only on the local traders. Climber planting is necessary to maintain stock & avoid loss due to its bark stripping for rope making.
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Lok Vaniki Program in Madhya Pradesh:
Policy and legal instruments to facilitate plantation on private lands under Lok Vaniki are in place through the Madhya Pradesh Lok Vaniki Act 2001 and the Lok Vaniki Rules 2002 for providing legal framework for preparation of scientific management plans for private & Government Revenue tree-clad holdings. This scheme is being implemented in all the districts of Madhya Pradesh. Under the Lok Vaniki Act 2001, the management plan for the area more than 10 ha. is sanctioned by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Regional, Government of India and for areas lesser than 10 ha., Divisional Forest Officers are competent to sanction management plan. After the submission of management plan by the landowner, an action is needed by the competent authority within 30 days time limit. Under Lokvaniki Scheme, 2901 management plans have been approved by the competent authority. In addition to this, 31 management plans have been approved by the Government of India. In about 1640 cases nearly Rs.28 crore has been distributed to the farmers against their timber mostly Teak wood. A total of 27822 farmers have been exposed to the scheme and trained by conducting 173 farmers sammelan, 52 workshops and 8 study tours. A massive programme to survey such tree clad holdings in the entire state has been initiated, nearly 8152.98 ha. area is identified as private tree clad area. 11 Extension and Research Circles are situated in each agro-climatic zone to ensure availability of good planting stock to the people on demand. Yepuru Vana Samrakshana Samithi, Nellore, Andhra Pradesh Yepuru VSS was formed on 12-3-1997 in Rapur Range of Nellore Division and consists of 37 Tribal families and 64 Tribal members. An extent of 310 Ha has been allotted to the VSS in Compartment Nos. 300, 301 of Nellepalli RF in Tumaya Beat of Yepuru Section. Out of 310 Ha allotted to VSS, an extent of 198 Ha has been treated upto 2010-11. Out of 198 Ha, Eucalyptus clonal plantations were raised over an extent of 110 Ha and the balance 88 Ha was treated with NTFP species. Out of 110 Ha of Eucalyptus clonal plantations, 80 Ha has been harvested and the balance 30 Ha will be harvested during 2011-12 as per the prescriptions of the working plan. Due to Harvesting of Eucalyptus plantations by the VSS members, net Revenue of Rs.29,48,562/-(Rupees twenty nine lakhs forty eight thousand five hundred and sixty two only) has been realized upto the year 2010. Out of which 50% of amount i.e., Rs.14,74,281/-( Rupees Fourteen lakhs seventy four thousand two hundred and eighty one only) has been distributed to VSS members among 37 families @ Rs.39,845/- per each family. The balance 50% amount was constituted as “Reinvestment
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Fund”. By using the Reinvestment fund, Post Harvest operations and Regeneration works were taken up by the VSS members. Out of Rs.14,74,281/-(Rupees Fourteen lakhs seventy four thousand two hundred and eighty one only), an amount of Rs.12,75,946/-(Rupees twelve lakhs seventy five thousand nine hundred and forty six only) has been spent towards Raising of 35 Ha Eucalyptus plantation and post harvest operations. The balance amount Rs.1,98,335/- (Rupees One lakh ninety eight thousand three hundred and thirty five only) will be utilized for maintenance of plantations. The uniqueness of Yepuru’s experience is the demonstration of willingness of the community to reinvest revenues from forest management to continue sustainable forest management. Community based Eco-tourism, Maredumilli, Andhra Pradesh The community participation in forest management began with a focus on rejuvenation of degraded forests. Eco-tourism – the new concept emerged as an initiative to enlist people’s participation to ensure biodiversity conservation while charging for eco service payments. Eco-tourism project at Maredumilli was launched in the year 2005 and is managed by the local indigenous tribal community of Kondareddis of Valamuru, Somireddypalem, and Addaraveedhi villages. The facilities boast of “Nandanavanam”, an Ethno Medico Awareness Centre developed with an intention to ensure awareness about the local medicinal plants, “Madankunj” developed as a picnic place amidst Pine grooves and picturesque Golden Bamboo clumps, “Amruthadhara - Swarnadhara” the twin waterfalls where water gushes down from a height of around 100 feet providing unique trecking options and the “Jungle star nature camp” adjacent to the clean waters of Pamaluru providing a unique opportunity to stay overnight in the deep woods of the unexplored Eastern Ghats. The Hill top guest house, the Bison wood suits and pre-fabricated structures provide 28 beds while the nature camp provides 20 bedded accommodation. Between 20 and 30 thousand visitors throng this place every year. People from nearby Rajahmundry and Kakinada are frequent visitors. The place also is on the tourist circuit of the State’s Tourism Department and attracts visitors from Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam.
This concept has evolved a unique arrangement of sharing the benefits of eco service payment thus ensuring sustained interest of the local community while also providing direct employment to 18 families. Till March 2011, this cluster had netted gross revenue of Rs. 42.12 lakhs out of which Rs. 30.83 lakhs was spent by the cluster on maintenance of the facility. 30% of the net revenue of Rs.11.29 lakhs is kept with the Eco Development Committees for maintenance of the biodiversity of the region, 20% is distributed a bonus to 18 families that are directly involved in managing this facility and the balance Rs. 5.64 lakhs is kept as corpus for meeting the unforeseen needs of capital expenditure is and when needed. The success of this unique initiative is only to be gauged by the growth in revenue and its popularity. Revenue and has grown from Rs. 4 lakhs during 2006-07 to Rs.18 lakhs during 2010-11. The first quarter of 2011-12 the cluster has netted a gross revenue of Rs. 6 lakhs. The experience of community partnership in eco-tourism in Maredumilli has given a new hope for a sustainable model of participatory management of our natural resources that ensure employment and payment for eco services while maintaining biodiversity. Harvesting of Community Plantations under Social Forestry in Goa State: In spite of the facts that the State of Goa has got about 65% of tree cover, still the Forest Department is making all efforts to increase the greenery of the State by entering into the agreement with local Communities for taking up afforestation in the Community land for a period of about 20-25 years. Few such plantations were taken up way back in 1985-86 and they are ready for harvest at the moment. Mostly the fast growing and hardy species are taken up in such Plantations. The Department has formulated the working scheme for the harvesting of such Plantation, which has completed agreement period and harvesting of the plantations is in progress. The sale proceeds of the
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harvest is to be shared by the Government and the communities concerned. This will also improve the availability of forest produce in the market. Rescue of Wild Animals in Goa State: The Forest Department of Goa State operates 5 Nos. of Wildlife Rescue Squads in different part of the State on round the clock basis. Well trained staff/ animal attendants have been posted in the Wildlife Rescue Squad for dealing with any kind of Wildlife emergencies in the State. These squads deal with any kind of Wildlife emergencies in the State. These Squads rescue Wild animals / Snakes entering habitation / settlement areas or in distress. The general public can contact such Rescue Squads in case Wild animals / Snakes enter human habitation / dwelling houses of the nearby area and the Squad immediately attend to such call. Around 2000 reptiles including King Cobra, Leopards, Monkeys etc. are rescued every year. Rescued Wild animals / Snakes are released safely back to their natural habitat after proper health check-up. Conservation of Sukhna Catchment of Chandigarh UT: The Sukhna Lake was constructed in 1985 across the Sukhna Choe, a seasonal stream flowing down the Shivalik hills, to enhance the aesthetic appeal of the Chandigarh city for tourist attraction. The Shivalik hills in the Sukhna catchment are ecologically sensitive and geographically unstable and are highly prone to erosion during rains. In order to minimize soil erosion from hilly catchment area, various vegetative and engineering methods were adopted by Forest Department. The effective closure imposed over a long time and intensive soil and moisture conservation measures combined with artificially assisted natural regeneration carried out consistently over the four decades helped in reversal of degradation process and resulted in significant improvement in micro climate of the catchment area. Major achievements are:
• Siltation rate reduced from 150 Tonn/Ha/Yr(1960) to 3-5 Tonn/Ha/Yr (2010) • Physical and Chemical properties of soil has improved in terms of
o Lower pH o Increased Phosphorous and Potash o Increased Organic matter build up o Improved root respiration o Formation & Accumulation of more litter on the forest floor. o Overall improvement in Tree & Bush Density.
• Due to 190 water bodies inside the sanctuary, the underground water regime has been
improved and has resulted in perennial flow of water in few seasonal nullahs / choes.
• Development of good wildlife habitat due to large no. of water holes, grazing grounds & palatable grass & shrubs.
• There is appreciable increase in the population of wild animals like - Sambhar, Chital,
Peacock, Red Jungle Fowl, Porcupines, and Pangolin etc. and area has been declared as Wildlife Sanctuary.
Enhanced Agriculture Productivity Through Soil & Moisture Conservation Activities in Bundelkhand Region of Madhya Pradesh: In project area under Bundelkhand special package of M.P., was marked by acute shortage of water, forage and nutritional sleight of cattle. The irrigation facilities were just not available in the region leading to perpetual famine type conditions resulting low productivity of land. During FY 2009-10 and 2010-11, 150 check dams, 192 contour trenches, 177 percolation tanks, 53 ponds were constructed and other SMC activities were carried out in 49678 ha forestland. The catchment areas have been regenerated by artificial seeding of Mohua, ber, Stylosantus hamata, Thimida quadriwalivis, Cenchrus ciliaris, guner and denanath grass. This has shown significant bearings on water levels. The water table has come up significantly in
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almost all villages of project area leading to rise in water table. The progress note submitted by the Add. PCCF (JFM) of M.P. based on his field observations shows that people have started shifting from rainfed maize to Soyabean crop in the project area of Chatarpur and Tikamgrah districts. Similarly, SMC works such as staggered contour trenching, gully plugs, earthen check dams, banding, etc. and plantation activities carried out in in Banda, Chitrakoot, Jhansi and Mahoba districts has resulted in recharging of ground water in adjoining non-forestland. The field inspection by the Chief Executive Officer and the Technical Expert (Water Management) of NRAA near Pahra, Katral and Bhagwanpura villages and Ratoli Block in the said districts revealed recharging of ground water in dug wells in adjoining agriculture fields, as confirmed by the farmers, as a result of water retention in the newly constructed check dams by the Forest Dept. There is a marked increase in total Kharif and Rabi Crop coverage, production and productivity in the Bundelkahnd region of M.P. and U.P. The coverage area under six districts of Bundelkhand region of M.P. has seen increasing trend from 23.39 lakh ha in 2007-08 to 27.61 ha in 2009-10, productivity from 15.51 lakh tonne to 26.7 lakh tonne and yield from 743.65 kg/ha to 996.52 kg/ha in 2009-10.
References: State of Forest Report, 2003, 2005, 2009 published by Forest Survey of India
National Forest Policy, 1988
National Environmental Policy, 2006
Green India Mission Document (Draft) 2010.
Operational Guidelines of National Afforestation Programme, 2009
Mid-term Review of 11th Plan by Planning Commission
Forestry Statistics of India published by ICFRE, Dehradun
Discussion with Working Group on Forestry and Sustainable Natural Resource Management
constituted by Planning Commission.
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Annexure (Break-up of Schemes)
1. Components of National Afforestation Programme (NAP)
Sl. No. Component Model Cost 1. Eco-restoration and Afforestation (ANR, AR,
Silvi-pasture, Mixed Plantation, Regeneration of perennial herbs etc.)
Rs. 8000 crores
2. Ancillary activities (Given below) Rs. 4000 crores (i) Strengthening of JFM Rs 10000 per new JFMC (ii) Awareness Generation 1% of the Plantation Cost (iii) Microplanning 2% of the Plantation Cost (iv) Planting/ Regeneration As per models (v) Fencing 5% of the Plantation Cost (vi) Soil & Moisture Conservation 15% of the Plantation Cost (vii) Entry Point Activities (per Hectare) Rs. 4,000/- (viii) Training & Capacity Building Rs.10 Lakh per FDA (ix) Value Addition and Marketing of Forest Produce Rs. 20 Lakh per FDA (x) Concomitant Monitoring & Evaluation 2% of the Plantation Cost (xi) Overheads## 10% of the Plantation Cost (xii) Treatment of Problem Lands 25% of the Plantation Cost (xiii) Use of Improved Technology 25% of the Plantation Cost
3. Community Foresters from among tribal Youths/ People residing in forests for forest conservation and management (50000)
Rs. 2000 crores
Total Rs. 14000 crores
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2. Capacity Development of JFMCs/ Gram Sabha / Other Stakeholders (Include exposure visit/ field training/ livelihood issues/ record maintenance/ community organising etc.)
• Travel/ Boarding / Lodging of Experts/ Trainers • Boarding / Lodging/ Travel of Participants • Training Kits • Honorarium to of JFMC / Gram Sabha/ non-officials to compensate wages
lost during training. • Contingency • Proceedings/ Secretarial Assistance
Estimate: 1.1 lakh JFMCs (80 households (avg.) * Rs. 2.5 lakh per training (2-3 days) * 3-5 trainings/ refresher course in a five year plan = Rs. 8100 to 13500 crores for a plan. Initially, executive members/ Panch/ sarpanch/ presidents/ other functinaries of unit etc. to be trained (Demand in the plan period will be one-third to one-fourth of estimate)
3. Green India Mission
Sub Missions Categories
Area
(Million ha) Total cost (Crores)
A. Eco‐restoration through Sub‐missions
Sub Mission 1
Enhancing resilience of ecosystem/ landscopes high on vulnerability (increase in quality of forest cover and ecosystem services)
2.45 5500
Sub Mission 2 Restoration/ of ecologically challenged ecosystems (increase in forest cover)
0.9 4200
Sub Mission 3 Enhancing tree cover in Urban & Peri‐Urban areas (including institutional lands)
0.1 2000
Sub Mission 4 Agro forestry and social Forestry ( increasing biomass & creating carbon sink)
1.5 4800
Sub Mission 5 Restoration of Wetlands 0.05 300
Total Sub Missions
5.0 16800
Promoting alternative fuel energy
Biogas, solar devices, LPG, Biomass based systems, improved stoves
2.5 million HH
500
Total of A 17300
B. For Support Activities
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Activities Cost Research 340
Publicity/Media/outreach activities 170
GIS/Monitoring and Evaluation 170
Livelihood improvement activities, 2900
Strengthening local level institutions 650
Strengthening FDs 650
Overheads, Mission Directorate 700
Total of B 5580 Grand Total A+B = 22880 crores
Say Rs. 23000 crores 4. Intensification of Forest Management
i. Forest Fire Management: Action as per Fire Vulnerability Map/ Fire Hazard Map/ other parameters etc.: Rs. 600 crores
ii. Mapping and Boundary demarcation: Rs. 500 crores iii. Forest Infrastructure: Rs. 300 crores iv. Control of Invasive Alien Species: Rs. 300 crores v. Strengthening of Working Plan Divisions/ Research Wing: Rs. 300 crores
5. Satellite based Forest Resource Assessment and Technological based monitoring i. Construction and Launch of Forest Satellite: Rs. 250 crores
ii. Strengthening of FSI etc. : Rs. 300 crores iii. Strengthening of M & E Unit of State Forest departments: Rs. 350 crores iv. Field Station maintenance for monitoring of outcome parameters: Rs. 100 crores
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Annexure (ToR)
Sub Group I on Forestry under Working Group on Forestry and Sustainable Natural Resource Management
In the first meeting of the Working Group on Forestry and Sustainable Natural Resource
Management held on 25/07/11, five Sub- Groups under the Working Group were constituted. The
Sub-group –I on forestry was constituted vide Office Memo M-13033/1/11-E&F Part-III dated
25/07/11 of Planning Commission of India with composition and Terms of Reference as follows.
S.No Name of Member Designation
1 Shri A.K. Bansal, Addl. DGF, (FC), MoEF Chairman
2 Shri.R.K.Goel, IGF, MoEF. Co-Chairman
3 Shri. A.K.Mukherjee Retd. DG & Spl. Secy of Forests Member
4 Shri. C. Madhukar Raj, PCCF, Andhra Pradesh Member
4 Dr. Aurobindo Behera, Principal Secretary,Forest, Orissa Member
5 Shri Pradeep Khanna, PCCF, Gujarat. Member
6 Shri B.S. Sajwan, PCCF & Prl. Secy , Arunachal Pradesh Member
7 Dr. V.K.Bahuguna, Director General, ICFRE, Dehradun Member
8 PCCF, Haryana Member
9 Shri. B M S Rathore, Jt. Secy, MoEF Member
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10 Representative of NRSC, Shri. Bahera, Deputy Director, Remote Sensing & GIS Applications, NRSC, Hyderabad
Member
11 Shri. D.K.Sharma, DIGF (NAEB), MoEF Member Convenor
Technical terms of reference and relevant para dealing with each issue of the ToR in the Report of the Sub-group are outlined below-
Sl. No.
Technical Terms of Reference for Sub-Group I on Forestry
Observation of Sub-group –I on Forestry (Relevant Para of the Report)
I. To make recommendations for the Forestry for Twelfth Five Year Plan based on a review of the existing programmes, policies and issues related to Legislation, Enforcement, Infrastructure and Institutional Mechanism;
a. Greening the country through the mechanism of participatory management by involving local level institutions in agro-forestry, urban forestry and afforestation of under-utilized lands.
b. Optimizing productivity to improve quality of forests, reducing demand and supply imbalances, rationalizing export and import regulations for improving opportunities for marketing of forest products.
c. Assess technological and manpower requirements for forest protection including forest fires and illegal activities such as encroachments and poaching etc.
d. Recommend policy prescriptions for strengthening linkages between forestry and allied sectors such as agriculture, rural development, tribal affairs, panchayati raj, water resources and other developmental sectors.
Para 2, Para 3, Para 5 and Para 6
II. Identify thrust areas for the Forestry and eco-services, assess carrying capacity for sustainable management, forest certification to promote high value export, eco-labelling, trade in eco-smart goods and services, green building technology, local value addition etc. apart from identifying the emerging issues with other sectors as well as suggest remedial measures.
Para 4 and Para 5
III. To assess the feasibility of switching over from present scale of mapping to a smaller and reliable scale to accommodate the requirement of micro-planning and
Para 1.5
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monitoring of activities.
IV. Recommended strategies for co-ordination of programmes between Centre and the States in view of national and regional circumstances in Forestry; real time monitoring of activities and outcomes.
Para 5 and Para 7
V. Suggest mechanisms for capacity building for Management and Planning for conservation and development of Forests
Para 5
VI. Recommend Innovative ways for augmenting flow of resources into the sector through integrated investment framework.
Para 5
